AI boom fuels fresh wave of legal tech investments

By Sara Merken

(Reuters) -Investors successful caller weeks person injected much than $750 cardinal successful caller currency into startups that marque artificial quality products ​for lawyers, betting connected a increasing marketplace competing for ineligible manufacture customers.

GC AI,‌ which makes AI tools for in-house firm ineligible teams for tasks similar drafting documents, probe and analyzing ‌contracts, said connected Wednesday it has raised $60 cardinal successful a backing circular led by Scale Venture Partners and Northzone, valuing the San Francisco-based institution astatine $555 million.

The two-year-old startup’s level tin marque in-house lawyers much businesslike and trim spending connected extracurricular counsel,⁠ said Cecilia Ziniti, GC ‌AI’s co-founder and CEO. The institution said its customers see News Corp, which besides participated arsenic an capitalist successful the backing ‍round, and Nextdoor, Skims and Zscaler.

Other investors successful the caller backing circular see Sound Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, SilverCircle, The Council and Guillermo Rauch, the CEO of Vercel (VERC.PVT).

Investments successful ​legal tech companies similar GC AI person been mounting ever since the generative AI roar ‌took clasp successful 2023. On Monday, Vancouver-based Clio raised $500 cardinal astatine a $5 cardinal valuation and completed its $1 cardinal acquisition of vLex, calling it a determination towards becoming "an AI-first company."

Sweden-based Legora, which markets an "AI workspace" for lawyers, raised $150 cardinal astatine a $1.8 cardinal valuation precocious past ⁠month. Zurich-based DeepJudge, which says it ​helps ineligible teams with AI-powered search, raised ​$41.2 cardinal past week astatine a $300 cardinal valuation.

Other ineligible tech companies to rise wealth since September see SpellBook’s $50 cardinal fundraise, EvenUp’‍s $150 cardinal rise ⁠at a $2 cardinal valuation and Eve’s $130 cardinal rise astatine a $1 cardinal valuation.

GC AI's Ziniti, a erstwhile wide counsel astatine AI bundle developer ⁠platform Replit, said the institution volition usage the latest currency infusion to prosecute much engineers, scope much ‌customers and firm departments, and yet grow to service companies without their ain ‌legal teams.

(Reporting by Sara Merken)